mr. franken: mr. president, i rise today to express my strong opposition to the amendment offered by my colleague from oklahoma which we will be voting on tomorrow. before i talk about the substance of the amendment, i want to comment on the procedure through which it was offered. there was no warning to senate leadership or to any of our colleagues, and while technically it wasn't in violation of senate rules, it undermines the basic comity that makes this body work. it's a disservice to do business this way, to our colleagues, to bipartisanship and to the american people who sent us to washington to get things done by working together, so i'm disappointed in the way this was handled. now, let me talk about the amendment itself. today, families in minnesota and around the country are paying painfully high prices at the pump as oil still hovers around around $100 a barrel. what this amendment does is cut the legs out from under the most viable alternative to foreign oil that we have. despite decade af

franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director mueller, i want to start off today by associating myself with senator durbin's remarks and commending you for your tremendous service to this nation. it is in large part because of your tenacity and leadership that we haven't seen another major terrorist attack on our soil since 9/11. that is no small achievement and i want you to know that i am grateful for all you have done to reshape the f.b.i.'s counterterrorism strategy. i don't think it should come as a surprise your department has been heavily criticized over the last 10 years for significant misuse of the department's surveillance powers and other major civil liberties violations. i think you have done extraordinary job, but i also believe that term limits exist for a good reason. term limits are like sunshine laws, they force us to bring in new leaders who take a fresh look at things, and that is almost always a good thing. i'd like you if you could to take a minute to talk about some of the most controversial aspect

my time has expired, so i will yield back to senator franken. >> thank you and mr. pincus' testimony he states that businesses that engage in wrongdoing will remain fully accountable for their actions because government enforcement not private litigation deters corporate wrongdoing. professor cox, i want to ask you about this. the example you mention about the walmart litigants are now filing with the eeoc. the last time i checked, the eeoc had a backlog of 86,000 private sector charges, and the eeoc has stated that quote the private right of access to the judicial forum to adjudicate claims is an essential part of the statutory enforcement scheme. relevance of the at&t case the gal report found that the fcc doesn't regulate carriers contract. it has few rules that address services consumers receive from wireless phone carriers and conduct little monitoring of consumer complaints and does not enforce its billing rules for wireless carriers. professor cox, what is your understanding of the role american citizens play in our civil justice system? are they redundant be

franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director mueller, i want to start off today by associating myself with senator durbin's remarks and commending you for your tremendous service to this nation. it is in large part because of your tenacity and leadership that we haven't seen another major terrorist attack on our soil since 9/11. that is no small achievement and i want you to know that i am grateful for all you have done to reshape the f.b.i.'s counterterrorism strategy. i don't think it should come as a surprise your department has been heavily criticized over the last 10 years for significant misuse of the department's surveillance powers and other major civil liberties violations. i think you have done extraordinary job, but i also believe that term limits exist for a good reason. term limits are like sunshine laws, they force us to bring in new leaders who take a fresh look at things, and that is almost always a good thing. i'd like you if you could to take a minute to talk about some of the most controversial aspect

franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director mueller, i want to start off today by associating myself with senator durbin's remarks and commending you for your tremendous service to this nation. it is in large part because of your tenacity and leadership that we haven't seen another major terrorist attack on our soil since 9/11. that is no small achievement and i want you to know that i am grateful for all you have done to reshape the f.b.i.'s counterterrorism strategy. i don't think it should come as a surprise your department has been heavily criticized over the last 10 years for significant misuse of the department's surveillance powers and other major civil liberties violations. i think you have done extraordinary job, but i also believe that term limits exist for a good reason. term limits are like sunshine laws, they force us to bring in new leaders who take a fresh look at things, and that is almost always a good thing. i'd like you if you could to take a minute to talk about some of the most controversial aspect

my time is expiring so i will yield back to senator franken. >> thank you. thank you and mr. pincus' testimony, he states that businesses that engage in wrongdoing will remain fully accountable for their actions because government enforcement, not private litigation, deters corporate wrongdoing. professor cox, i want to ask you about this. the walmart litigants are now filing with the eeoc in less time i checked, the eeoc had a backlog of 86,000 private sector charges, and the eeoc has dated that quote the private right of access judicial forum to adjudicate claims is an essential part of the statutory enforcement scheme. relevant to the at&t case a gal report found the fcc doesn't regulate carriers contract terms. it has few rules that address services consumers receive from wireless phone carriers and conducts little monitoring of consumer complaints and does not enforce its billing rules for wireless carriers. professor cox, what is your understanding of the role that suits american citizens play in our civil justice system? are they redundant because there are are the gov

franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director mueller, i want to start off today by associating myself with senator durbin's remarks and commending you for your tremendous service to this nation. it is in large part because of your tenacity and leadership that we haven't seen another major terrorist attack on our soil since 9/11. that is no small achievement and i want you to know that i am grateful for all you have done to reshape the f.b.i.'s counterterrorism strategy. i don't think it should come as a surprise your department has been heavily criticized over the last 10 years for significant misuse of the department's surveillance powers and other major civil liberties violations. i think you have done extraordinary job, but i also believe that term limits exist for a good reason. term limits are like sunshine laws, they force us to bring in new leaders who take a fresh look at things, and that is almost always a good thing. i'd like you if you could to take a minute to talk about some of the most controversial aspect

mr. franken: thank you. madam president, i have six unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. franken: thank you. madam president, i rise today to discuss what i think is one of the clearest threats to americans' digital privacy and to introduce legislation that i think will go a long way toward addressing this problem. madam president, americans have valued and sought to protect their right to privacy for a long, long time, and so have the representatives that they have elected to be a part of this chamber. but in the past few decades there has been a fundamental shift in the nature of our right to privacy and the privacy threats that we face. because when i was young, when people talked about their right to privacy, they talked about prote